STURBRIDGE — The chairman of the Board of Selectmen, reacting to a recent story in the Telegram & Gazette, gave a strong defense this week of the job the police chief is doing as acting fire chief.

Thomas R. Creamer told his colleagues at their meeting Monday that the Nov. 1 article was misleading when it listed 10 public safety workers who have resigned, or, in one case, taken a demotion, since Police Chief Thomas J. Ford III became acting fire chief on April 25. Chief Ford replaced Chief Leonard E. Senecal, a 35-year veteran of the force, who was placed on paid administrative leave April 22 after a consultant's report critical of his management. Chief Senecal retired May 17.

Over objections from the town administrator and some selectmen that he was violating confidential personnel matters, Mr. Creamer ran through the list of names to show that the resignations were not connected to mismanagement by Chief Ford.

"You want to sit here and say it's a personnel issue. It is a personnel issue," Mr. Creamer said. "We have a police chief now who is being attacked by individuals in this community and we have a personal responsibility to assure that the chief of police is not inappropriately maligned and yet members of this board and, in some cases, the town administrator has stood silently by while the police chief has been maligned. And I will no longer do that."

After that, there was no stopping Mr. Creamer until he was done with his list of names..

Part of the reason John C. Marinelli requested a voluntary reduction in rank from fire captain to lieutenant was that he was under review for potential termination, Mr. Creamer said.

Lisa Keay, the Fire Department's administrative assistant, resigned because it had become apparent that "there were irregularities ... with the potential documentations of time and that potential documentations of time was in full knowledge of the previous fire chief," Mr. Creamer said.

As for the resignation of full-time Firefighter Eric Roppolo, who said in his letter of resignation that "the fire department is being led in a dangerous direction," Mr. Creamer said: "This comes from an individual who during his three years as the union steward allowed deplorable and dangerous conditions to exist ... and never did anything, never raised an issue about it, nor rectified it."

And as for temporary Deputy Fire Chief Edward G. Bourassa, who resigned last week saying the department is "being run by fear and intimidation by a misdirected, unpredictable police chief," Mr. Creamer said he is a "good individual" but he disagrees completely with his assertion.

On-call Firefighter Edward Chamberland resigned but "did not, in any way, express any dissatisfaction" with the Fire Department, and on-call Firefighter Garrett Danna resigned to take a full-time job in Deerfield, Mr. Creamer said.

Police Lt. David A. Diogo resigned to become a patrolman in the Wilbraham Police Department because he did not relish the idea of being in the administrative level anymore, Mr. Creamer said.

Police Officer Michael Vitols resigned because he took a full-time position in Shrewsbury, Mr. Creamer said.

On-call Firefighter Ovidiu Ticlea resigned for "personal reasons," and on-call Firefighter Joseph Overly's resignation had "absolutely nothing to do with the current situation in the Sturbridge Fire Department," Mr. Creamer said.

After he finished, Selectman Mary Blanchard said: "People understand what's happening. People speak to people. The morale at that (public safety) complex is lower than it was four months ago and it's getting worse."

"It is time that the good ol' boy network is put to rest in the town of Sturbridge," Mr. Creamer said. "We are not Mayberry. We are not a community of 1,500 people. We are a town of nearly 10,000 and it's time for this town to begin to do all of its work and to fulfill all of its responsibilities in a much more professional manner and not a situation where people are allowed, in effect, to engage in dereliction of their duties."

"Good ol' boy network, I think you stressed that too much," Mrs. Blanchard countered. "People are tired of the good ol' Creamer dictatorship."